EP 824- What Are You Thankful For?

Episode Notes

Transcript

Announcer:

Welcome to Heels in the Courtroom, a podcast about successfully navigating law and life featuring the women trial attorneys at the Simon Law Firm.

Liz Lenivy:

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Heels in the Courtroom. I’m Liz Lenivy, and today I am thankful to be joined by Amy Gunn, Elizabeth McNulty and Erica Slater. And if you couldn’t tell by my opening, today’s episode is going to be focusing on what we’re thankful for, we have a holiday coming up where the focus is on being grateful and thinking about what is really important in our lives. It would be a good thing to focus on what we are thankful for. So with that being said, Amy, I’m going to throw it to you first. What are you thankful for this year?

Amy Collignon Gunn:

Thankful for many things and I will do top of mind thankfulness. I just got back from the Taylor Swift concert in Indianapolis, and I don’t know how many Swifties we have as listeners. It’s hard for me to even say Swifty because I was not one, and I’m not sure. I think I probably am now. So here’s how it started. Early this year, my brother and sister-in-Law saw that there were tickets on sale for Indianapolis and said, do you want to go with us? And it was going to be my brother and sister-in-Law, Andy Ashley, and my triplet nieces who are now 22, grace Caroline and Millicent. And I thought, man, that would be fun. That would be so much fun. So I say, heck yeah, count me in. And then the ticket price was eye popping. And I thought, oh, because I said yes before I saw the price, but I decided that I was going to learn the songs, the set list, because I mean, I’ve been listening for a while, but I’ve had boys, we’ve sort of missed the actual window.

So her timing and my timing didn’t really sync up, but I decided to just start listening to songs. I didn’t want to go to this concert and stand there and not really, or only know a few songs. I really wanted to try to enjoy it and just look at the fashion and just look at the fashion, which was spectacular. Of course, it was spectacular. So we’ve been talking about this concert for months now, and my nieces and Ashley and Andy have been on a text for the last couple of months talking about what to where and just logistics and who’s flying in from where. And it was flawless. It was so fun. Last weekend, I had a few hours to listen to the entire, almost three hour, actually, it was longer than that playlist from I downloaded it and there were still songs that I hadn’t heard.

So we went and got all dressed up, looked adorable if I do say so myself, all of us, and just, it was fantastic. And then it got over around midnight. It was the third night in Indianapolis, which was her last United States tour date, and she announced that this was the biggest crowd ever in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Our night, our crowd, it was the most friendly place. People were randomly coming up giving me friendship bracelets, I mean telling me that they loved my dress and it was just infectious, how wonderful it was. And I don’t know, I just think we need more of that, more opportunities to get together to express just being happy. And I was talking to a friend of mine last night telling her how much fun it was, and she said that she’d recently been to a concert, not Taylor Swift, but another concert, and she said it was the same feeling everybody there was in a good mood, happy and sharing the experience. So we decided everybody needs to go to concerts more, get out there more, and it could be anything, just kind of open yourself up more to enjoying our neighbors. So I’m very thankful for the Taylor Swift experience and for my family for inviting me along. So I’m very, very thankful for that. I have more, but shall we pass it around?

Liz Lenivy:

I did not know you were seeing Taylor Swift. I had no idea.

Amy Collignon Gunn:

Oh my goodness. How do you do? Well, I’m not on a social media, so there’s just no way anybody would really actually know that, but yeah. Yeah, it was exciting. It was so much fun. And I do have to credit Sarah Ch, she’s our executive director of Matt. She’s been trying to get me to love Taylor Swift for a few years now and be like, yeah, yeah. And I give her all the credit for giving me the right advice about which albums to focus on.

Erica Slater:

And so she Taylor, she was your Swifty Sherpa.

Liz Lenivy:

Yes, Sarah. Totally. Well, I feel like that’s a good segue then to pass it to the other Swifty in the room. Elizabeth, can you tell us what are you thankful for this year?

Elizabeth McNulty:

Thank you. What an honor. Hard to follow because I am also very thankful for Taylor Swift this year. Just kidding. I’m thankful for Taylor Swift every year. Every year

Amy Collignon Gunn:

I will be too

Elizabeth McNulty:

Many. Minnie Lowe’s has Taylor Swift’s gotten me through, it feels like forever since I saw her in Kansas City, which was in 2023, which feels like, how long has this woman

Liz Lenivy:

Been on tour?

Elizabeth McNulty:

There are people

Liz Lenivy:

Who

Elizabeth McNulty:

Had two pregnancies and seen her at two different shows. Isn’t that crazy?

Erica Slater:

And she put out a double album in the middle of all in the middle of it

Amy Collignon Gunn:

And broke up and ignited a new romance.

Erica Slater:

Correct.

Amy Collignon Gunn:

Throughout all that and made it to the Monday night football game last night in Kansas City to see Travis.

Elizabeth McNulty:

Wow. Remarkable. I’m learning so much.

Amy Collignon Gunn:

We all

Liz Lenivy:

Inspire. She gets the same 24. What are we doing? I dunno. I would venture to say that we don’t exactly have the same 24, but give ourselves a little bit of grace here. But Elizabeth, aside from one Taylor Swift.

Elizabeth McNulty:

Sure.

Liz Lenivy:

What else are you thankful for this year?

Elizabeth McNulty:

Yeah, so it’s been an interesting year, which I think we will probably do a recap of the year down the line, but the year hasn’t been without its professional challenges. But some of those I think I’m grateful for. I’ve hit some first milestones I’d say in my career. I’m in my fifth year of practice, but I’m thankful for those because they’ve gotten me a lot closer to you all, which is incredibly corny. But I’m really thankful for you all because I think without those challenges in my professional life, I wouldn’t come to you all with those. And then we’re able to grow a lot closer as friends, and it’s one of my favorite things of coming to work and getting to be around you guys in more of a fun way and less of a work way. So I’ve really enjoyed the year in that sense.

And then personally along with those challenges, I’m lucky enough that my parents decided to move to St. Louis from Nashville, and that has been really cool, really fun. And it’s really nice to have more of a support system outside of friends and colleagues here. To have my parents here has been really awesome. My mom is a huge swifty. She is who I saw Taylor Swift with last year, so it’s been really, really special to have them so close. I haven’t lived in the same city with them outside of summer since the covid year, since I graduated from high school. So it feels like a long time coming. It’s still very surreal. There’s a sweet reference. I know it still feels really surreal to just be able to drive 15, 20 minutes to go see them. And my dog, Hank loves getting to spend time with his grandparents. So yeah, that is lovely. And then I also have long distance boyfriend who comes here, max, and another person that just comes to visit me hopefully will move here as well. So lots of support that just comes to St. Louis. I’m bringing lots of people to St. Louis. So

Amy Collignon Gunn:

Yeah,

Elizabeth McNulty:

Great for the economy. I’m going to start working for the Chamber of Commerce, I think great for tourism, but seriously, I’m really thankful for my support system this year. It’s been kind of a weird year, but really fun, big milestones I’d say. But I really couldn’t do it without the people in this room. And then plenty of people outside of this room, my family and my loved ones and my dog, Hank couldn’t have gotten through the year without Hank who’s supporting who is the eternal question.

Liz Lenivy:

You really did have a really big year and that’s really exciting. And obviously getting to come to work and hear about the updates in your life, it always comes. It’s incremental, getting to hear about it, but then sitting down and reflecting on how much change, good change has happened for you, that’s really exciting and I love that. So far the theme seems to be support and female support. And that kind of ties into my answer a little bit because I was reflecting last night on what am I thankful for? Because I’m going to be honest, y’all 2024 has not been it for me. This has not been a great year in thinking back. I’ve had some really good times, but I feel like it’s kind of just been pretty level or even pretty bad. And I say all of this with a grain of salt because I realize my bad is probably someone else’s incredible year, so I can’t complain too much, but it’s not been my best year.

It’s been kind of a weird odd transition year for me. And so I was thinking about what am I thankful for? And I kind of got a little indignant of really anything to be thankful for. It just kind of this year kind of blew. But in reflecting on it, I’m like, yeah, it wasn’t a great year, but why am I not a husk of a human being right now despite it not being a great year? And that’s because of the people in my life. And this has been, when I say transition year, part of that transition has been both professionally and personally. I feel like I have had to rely and ask more people for help, more so than I ever have before, maybe since I was a little baby and was not independent. I feel like I just have had to rely on a lot of people to come through for me.

And that is a really awkward and very vulnerable feeling that I don’t particularly enjoy. But I recognize part of this is me growing as a person. So in thinking about who I’m thankful for, obviously always thankful for my family, my mom, my husband, my sister, my in-laws. I have an incredible family that I’m so lucky to have. My friends are still there for me. I have friends going all the way. My college friends are still there for me, my law school friends and the friends that I’ve made since then. I just have a really incredible network of people. But in trying to prepare for this episode, I kept coming back to, and I really wish Mary was here. Then I would say the four of you, Mary could not make it here this morning. She was actually just texting us, apologizing. But I spent a little bit of thinking about this year and how my relationship has changed with all four of you and how thankful I am for that relationship change.

And I’ll start with Mary since she’s not here. I feel like in the last couple of months, in this past year, I have really seen Mary grow into a leadership role and one where she is really growing into her own confidence and herself as an attorney. And I’ve realized Mary’s the person that text me the most check in on me just like, Hey, what’s going on with this case? Hey, how are you doing? Hey, she did it yesterday. Hey, what’s going on with this? I was thinking about you. And that is I think really incredible maturity and leadership for someone so young. So I was thinking about that of I’m really thankful that Mary’s kind of always that person that will check in on me randomly and I need that. And it’s one of those things, again, it’s incremental, but when you stop and think about it and you go back through the texts, you’re like, she does this a lot for me. So I’m really thankful for Mary Amy. This has been a weird year for us because out of all of the years that I’ve been working here, which really dating back to 2014, I’m going to go back to 14 when I started here as a LawClerk, I’ve worked very closely with you, and this is the first year I feel like I’m actually starting to branch out on my own. And this is all by design. This was all we had worked this out. And

Amy Collignon Gunn:

Baby birds must fly.

Liz Lenivy:

I have been summarily kicked out of the nest, but I realized we only have one case left together. We have wrapped up all of your other cases where I was sort of the quote associate on your case list, and I have probably talked to you the least. Just again, by nature of our jobs, we’re both so busy. And so that has been sad. But also I realize when I go into the Courtroom or I go into a deposition or I’ve been covering some of the trial ag classes over at the law school and the things that I’m telling the law students, I’m like, this is what I’ve learned and I’ve learned so much of it from you. So because I had nine great years learning from you, I have had a pretty successful 2024 on my own and I’m really thankful for that. That is really cool to be able to reflect on myself and see. So I’m thankful for everything that you’ve taught me and that I will be able to take forward with me. And so Erica, in thinking about our 2024, it’s been a weird one I think between us without getting into too much detail, but part of it also,

Erica Slater:

Which will leave our listeners

Liz Lenivy:

Just wondering, I know what happened. No, it’s all good. I feel like I’ve gotten really close to you this year, and I realized too, because of me sort of going out onto my own, you have always kind of been your own person here. I don’t think you’ve ever, you’ve never been someone’s associate, right? You came in here third year practicing and basically handling your own case list from then. So you have been sort of your own independent attorney the entire time.

Erica Slater:

Not without growing pains,

Liz Lenivy:

You not without growing pains, but I have come to you so often of like, can you help me with this? And the level of advice and the level of care that you take when you are advising me on these things, you never make me feel dumb. You never make me feel like I’m wasting your time. And I don’t think that that’s something that I would get from everyone. So I really appreciate how vested of an interest you clearly have in my success here and how great of a mentor you have been for me in that role as I am coming into my own sort of mirroring what you have done in your time here. And so I’m really thankful for that. And then Elizabeth, also really weird year for us without getting into too much detail, but it’s, it’s never boring. It’s never boring. Sometimes I kind of wish it was, but in reflecting back on our last year, even dating back into 2023, I got to watch you your first time in the Courtroom and then in January I got to watch you first chair a trial.

I was your second, didn’t hardly do anything. So I got to really watch you shine and the level of growth that you have had in that time, I’m just amazed by you are sonic running this career right now, how much you have accomplished. I recognize I’m sort of in a weird spot. I’m sort of the middle child of this podcast. I’m right in between Mary and Elizabeth and Amy and Erica. But it’s such a unique position for me to be in because I get to learn from attorneys who have been doing this for a while and have mastered their craft. But then I also get to watch younger attorneys as they’re coming up. And I’m in this really, again, unique position where I get to see both sides of it. And this goes for Mary too, just watching the level of growth that you’ve had both professionally and personally.

I feel like you’ve matured a lot. And I mean, I find myself coming to you for advice even though you’re younger, you’ve been practicing less than me. I come to you for advice because of your maturity and your wisdom and the way that you are able to really step back and objectively look at things. I mean, I know people twice your age that don’t have that ability. So I am really thankful for your mentorship and for our friendship and everything that I’ve learned from you and getting to, I feel like this year we’ve made a much better effort at having lunch every day or at least the days that we can. And that’s something I really look forward to coming into the office, sitting and chatting with you about work or about our personal lives. And I’m really thankful for that. I cannot let this opportunity pass without hyping you all up a little bit and thanking you all for the impact and influence you’ve had on my life. So with that, Erica, what are you thankful

Erica Slater:

For? Oh, Liz, thank you for saying all that. It’s so nice to hear you kind of go around the table and talk about everyone and acknowledge we’ve all had big years and ups and downs and even hearing everybody talk, it’s just all a point in time of the longevity of a career and of friendships. And we all go through these ups and downs. And the greatest thing is that I think we have all done a good job of meeting each other where we are. And if you needed something, Elizabeth, we’re here. And Amy, you’ve given back when you have been able to share joy of, guess what, I enjoyed a Taylor Swift concert and this made my month. But at the same time, thinking over the last couple of years, I think we’ve all had ups and downs, but Amy, I’m thinking back to even when Connor left for college a couple of years ago, that was a hard transition being on the other side and being your friend through that. So I feel like in this group, if you stay together with people long enough, everybody’s going to have ups and downs that you need your people. Which brings me to the next thing I’m going to talk about, and I just texted my wife to make sure I could talk about this and I’ll try to make it brief. I’m going to talk about this, but know that I haven’t necessarily processed it all and I’m not going to cry through it. So give me just one second. You

Amy Collignon Gunn:

Cry, you cry.

Erica Slater:

I’m going to cry. Cry. So in March of this year, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and we’re young, we have young kids. Our kids are three and five, our two little girls and she’s 45. And I think the biggest smack in the face about that is that most people who know her are like, wait, you’re the healthiest person we know. She takes such good care of herself, she does everything. She doesn’t drink a lot, she doesn’t smoke. She works out most days of the week and has for mainly her whole life, she has a better diet than anyone I know. She got genetic testing and that all came back clear. So I mean there’s really, we’re never going to find out a cause, but it was obviously such a shocker. And when you’re just running along and keeping track of your career and how your kids are doing and all the things on the list that you’re so obsessed with on a day-to-day basis, and then something like that just kind of hits you in the face.

A couple of things kind of occur to me when I think about this past year. And keep in mind she had surgery and then she just finished chemo a couple of weeks ago, or at least the big bad chemo that you have to get an infusion for. She’ll be on a chemo medication for, I don’t know, years. But that felt like the big push. Let’s get through surgery and then let’s get through this 12 weeks of chemo. And it’s easy to run straight at that and straight through it because it’s just short enough that you’re saying, my whole mind and body can trick me into thinking we’re fine, keep going, and then you get to the end of it. And of course this message is going to be, I’m so grateful as far as we know her results from surgery, they could stage it as stage one.

So it was diagnosed early on. She got an MRI screen, which was necessary for her. So I’m so thankful for all that. I can’t imagine what would happen if we didn’t catch it now. But the thing that I’m really, really thankful for in the middle of going through this whole year, and keep in mind, like I was saying, you’re just obsessed day to day with kind of self-absorbed things and then something like that just throws you off your track. And the good thing is, one, it was quick for me to say, whatever we have to do, nothing else matters. Because I feel like you guys have all raised me that way to prioritize things correctly. Amy, I remember clerking for you when I was in law school and I think I was breaking up with a relationship or something and we were talking about families and priorities and stuff, and you just told me you have to find something more important than this.

And I think I did a pretty damn good job at that. And so I was grateful that I immediately could think whatever this we’re all set up, whatever needs to happen will happen and I can let everything else go to prioritize my wife and her health and our family. The other thing that I was really grateful for is that in approaching this, although it was very scary, I felt like the overarching feeling was this is just the next thing we deal with because I have a good foundation. I have people professionally, personally, family that are supportive.

Kristen and my relationship is solid. So we weren’t worried about doing this together and we just knew that we’d get on the other side. And I think that although this has been very hard this year and it’s really hard to get used to the fact that it’s not over and it’ll never be over, I think we were thinking like, okay, you just got to get through this. And then that’s in the rear view mirror. And unfortunately it’s not. She’ll always be someone who deals with this diagnosis and it’s so common. We are not a unique story. I’m so glad that we’re one of the stories that is talking about it being caught early and treatable. But the fact that I knew I’d be on the other side and I never felt the sky was falling or the floor was falling out underneath me. So I’m just so grateful that at this point in my life, everything was in a position where we could handle this the way we wanted to, even if it was pretty privately, quite frankly, and get through it.

And I’m happy to be on the other side of it. I’m very thankful for my wife’s health and I’m really thankful for the part that you guys play in helping me to do this. Everybody here has been great in giving me the time I needed. I didn’t have to miss any chemo sessions, which were very important to me and just having you guys there to get through that and shout out to my mom and stepdad as well, man, they did a lot of babysitting. They were taking my kids to school every Wednesday morning so we could get over to Siteman for treatment. But those are just the small things that make up a big difference. So I’m very grateful to be on the other side of that. I’m very grateful for all the things that went into getting us there. And I am certainly ready to wrap up 2024 as much as it feels like just such a dumpster fire of a year, it’s also has at least a semicolon on it. Maybe not a period, maybe it’s not over. But we are on the other side of the uncertainty and the scary part. And so I’m letting the gratitude and thankfulness kind of wash over. And I know that because of that, our holidays this year are going to be really special. I know her parents and her family are very ready to be all together celebrating this and not showing up in St. Louis for surgeries and chemo treatments and things like that. So I’m very grateful and thank you for letting me say that

Liz Lenivy:

You did

It. I did. Erica, I just want to echo how thankful we all are of Kristen because your wife kicks ass. She does, man. Kristen is objectively one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. And we love her. My husband loves her and my this too. I think they have their own little group chat. Spousal counsel, spousal counsel. And when my husband needs advice on things, my husband went through some career changes over the last couple of years. Kristen was one of the people he went and talked to because she is not just like cool objectively like leather jacket, cool, but cool. Her head is cool. She gives smart good advice and she’s funny as hell. And we are so grateful that you are on the other side of this. And we are so grateful that, again, unsurprisingly, your wife has kicked cancer’s ass.

Erica Slater:

She really did, man. She made something so hard, even look easy from the

Liz Lenivy:

Outside.

Erica Slater:

From the inside. To be clear, it looked easy from the inside. I was like, Kristen, are you okay? You seem very steady. She doesn’t lose that steadiness. I mean, she dealt with it at times and we’re still dealing with it, but she really kicked it.

Liz Lenivy:

She’s got the personality of someone you want in a crisis situation. Oh yeah. So I think that that is the best place to end this podcast because there is truly nothing more important. And I feel like all of us touched on this in some way of connect family and friends. And with Taylor Swift, you’re

Amy Collignon Gunn:

Focused on family though, I

Liz Lenivy:

Guess, but it’s underlying family. Okay. Would the sw, I love entire family. I love them. Would the concert have been a special if you didn’t have that family connection and the moments leading up to it, right, of course.

Elizabeth McNulty:

Lovely. Yeah.

Liz Lenivy:

Let’s wrap this up. And I just want to say that I’m thankful for all of you who are listening, if you’ve made it to the end of this episode. Thanks if you stuck with us through all these years. Thank you. And obviously if you ever want to reach out to us, you can do so at comments at heels in the Courtroom law. Remember new episodes, drop every other Wednesday and we’ll talk to you all soon. Bye guys.

Announcer:

Heels in the Courtroom is brought to you by the Simon Law Firm at the Simon Law Firm pc. We believe in the power of pooling resources in order to create powerful results. We often lend our trial skills and experience to lawyers around the country to achieve better results for their clients. Our attorneys welcome the opportunity to work with you on your case, offering vast resources, seasoned litigators, and a sterling reputation. You can contact us at 2 4 1 2 9 2 9. And if you enjoyed the podcast, feel free to share your thoughts with Amy, Liz, Erica, Mary Elizabeth at Heels in the Courtroom Law, and subscribe today because the best lawyers never stop learning.

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